Singapore brand Kwanpen is making a name for itself in the luxury market with its line of crocodile skin handbags

Mr Leonard Kwan (above), president of Kwanpen, says the Kwanpen brand signified 'a crocodile-skin bag of the best value and quality'. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM SINGAPORE - IN A luxury industry dominated by famous European brands, a Singapore company is making inroads with an exclusive line of colourful handbags made from crocodile skin. Selling for as much as US$20,000 (S$24,800) apiece, Kwanpen bags are made in a spacious, brightly lit workroom where about 50 staff work meticulously to meet the exacting demands of fashionable women the world over. Kwanpen is a family-owned enterprise operating in one of Singapore's industrial suburbs, the only luxury leather goods brand from a city-state better known for electronics, petrochemicals and finance. 'It's not mass production,' company president Leonard Kwan told AFP, beaming with pride at samples of the products named after hi...